Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.

I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast and I wanted to thank you for joining us today.

Hope this inspires you.

Hope it builds your faith.

Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving.

In your life.

Enjoy the message.

Are you excited for the Word of God today?

I sure am grateful to preach and share this with you.

Thank you worship team.

If you want to look at Joshua chapter two today with me for a moment, very interesting story in scripture.

Those of you at our Uptown location and our Melbourne campus, you heard me share from this scripture.

Right.

You heard me share from the scripture at our Vision nights over the last few weeks.

And I want to share this with the church today and it's a subject that I think will be relevant for each of us.

And I pray that you'll hear this personally for yourself.

By the way, what an awesome advantage it is when everyone in the church is leaned in to hear the word of God.

I was telling one of the people who helps me on the weekend how exhausting it is when preaching feels like mixed martial arts, you know, And I don't want to be like Connor McGregor up here.

And it's not like that, you know, it's not.

Even a performance.

When we do this, God speaks.

And when everybody comes with that attitude and that perspective, we realize that it is our responsibility to receive the word of God.

And we don't put all this pressure on some guy with a microphone as if somehow I could fix your life.

I can't.

My opinion is empty.

But God's word is powerful.

And so when you bring that expectation to the Word of God, it really makes it dynamic and explosive.

So all that just to say, look at your name and say wake up, pay attention.

I know you're ready.

Joshua Chapter two, verse one, then Joshua's Son of None secretly sh secretly.

You don't have to tell everybody everything you're doing secretly.

You don't have to post every time you pray on Instagram.

You don't have to put a coffee mug post for every devotion.

You know, I'm talking about the coffee mug and the Bible and spread open and then you highlight a few extra verses before you take the picture make it look like then Joshua's son of none, sh don't tell everybody, but just secretly sent two spies from Shiitem.

And that's a long eye when you pronounce shi them.

You want to be careful when you pronounce shyt them if you ever preach from Joshua, chapter two, verse one, Go look over the land, he said, especially Jericho.

Notice he didn't tell them to look at every city, because you can get overwhelmed if you think about all the battles you have to fight.

This is just the first one, the next one.

And when we get so focused on everything that we have to overcome, it SAPs our strength and we can't take our next step because we're thinking fourteen steps ahead.

And you can wreck looking at your GPS instead of keeping your eyes on the next turn.

Okay, So they went and entered the house of a prostitute ooh named Rahab and stayed there.

Why there there was nothing else available on Airbnb, so they.

Stayed in the house of a prostitute named Rahab.

King of Jericho was told, look, some of these relights have come here tonight to spy out the land.

So the King of Jericho sent this message to Rehab bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, as they have come to spy out the whole land.

But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them.

Now, if there's one thing that Rahab's profession has taught.

Her, it is discretion.

I'm saying she might not have lived the most holy life.

The Bible says she was a prostitute, but she knew how to hide men.

And so I point that out to let you know.

God is going to use everything, even the stuff that you're not proud of, if you offer it to him.

He'll use even the things that you want to hide.

And Rahab hid the men because that's something she knew how to do.

I won't say any more about that, because y'all are looking at me so angelic.

She said, Yeah, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from.

At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left.

I don't know which way they went by the way.

All of this is a lie.

This is a lie.

So we got a lying prostitute that God uses to fulfill his purpose and demonstrate his glory in the earth.

Put that in your theological pipe.

And to that vape.

That so she's lying and she's hiding the men, and then she uses misdirection.

TuS can go after them quickly.

You may catch up with them parentheses.

But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she'd laid out on the roof.

This was not her first time hiding a man in her house.

So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, And as soon as the pursuers had gone out.

The gate was shut.

Before the spies laid down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, I know that the.

Lord has given you this land, and that.

A great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this kind of tree are melting in fear because of you.

These are the same enemies that the Israelites were so afraid of forty years earlier that they wouldn't go in.

But what they were running from was actually afraid of them.

You realize sometimes you're running from a defeated foe.

You realize sometimes you're running from stuff God has already dealt with if you would move forward.

And so she says, we've heard about you firstin we've heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea.

That was four decades ago, they're still talking about it.

We heard how the Lord dried up the water the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sion in Augu, the two kings of the Emirites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.

And when we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear, and everyone's courage failed because of you.

For the Lord, your.

God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

So turn to the person next to you and tell them what Rehab told.

The spies say, you got a reputation.

The title of this message is reputation Rehab.

You didn't just come to church today, You came.

To reputation Rehab.

How many realized that everything people called you is not something you should respond to at this stage in your life.

You got to move past some things and see yourself in a new light.

At least that's what God told Joshua when he stated him as the new leader of Israel after Moses left.

He said, it's a new day, and you are the leader I have chosen and appointed to lead these people into the land that I promised their ancestors.

And God in Joshua Chapter one reminds Joshua of his reputation, not the reputation of Joshua, the reputation of Jehovah.

He said, I am the God.

Who spoke to the forefathers of this faith tradition, which you are a continuation of.

But it didn't start with you.

God says, I have a reputation.

And when you face the resistance, when you go into this new land that I've called you to conquer, I want you to remember my reputation.

God said, I have a.

Reputation of picking people out that are obscure and unknown and using them to accomplish my purpose in the earth.

I have a reputation.

I have a reputation for calling men like Abraham and taking him from her of the Chaldeans.

And even though he's too old to have babies and there's no prescriptions available to help him pro create, I have a reputation for doing what cannot be done in the flesh.

For it's not by might nor by power.

But by my spirit, says the Lord.

I have a.

Reputation, and sometimes we need to be reminded of God's reputation.

You know, we need to be reminded every once in a while that the wind and.

The waves know who he is.

They know that voice.

To you, my sheep, know my voice.

I'm the one who dried up the red Sea.

I just want you to remember my reputation.

That's why I mentioned Bible stories in church, like Daniel and the Lions den because the lions knew that when God speaks, their mouths had to stay shut.

They knew that voice, they knew that voice.

I'm encouraged to know that God's reputation is the basis of my faith, not mine, not mine.

I think it's really funny sometimes how much time we spend trying to build our reputation with people whose opinions don't ultimately matter.

You know, when I first started the church, a well meaning minister gave me a piece of advice.

He said, protect your reputation.

You only get one.

I wish that were that's true, you know, I wish you could protect your reputation and that if you always did the right thing, people would always say the right things about you.

The fact is we live in a world that doesn't know the difference between a rumor and a reputation anymore, and to spend all of your energy trying to protect your reputation.

The Lord really spoke to me and dealt with me the first time that I would defend myself against people who were critical of my ministry.

And you know, you can spend so much time trying to protect your reputation, which is really ego wanting people to have a certain image of you, that you start preaching to the people who don't like you, and you're angry at people who are smiling at you because you're not really talking to them.

It happened to me early in ministry, and the Lord spoke to me.

He spoke to me very specifically.

He said, why don't you worry about protecting your integrity and let me protect your reputation.

When you stop to think about it, even the premise that you only have one reputation is faulty.

I mean, really, you have as many reputations as you have relationships in that room.

What I mean is some people at work think.

You're quiet because you are around them, because you don't trust them or like them, or have anything to say to them.

But if we ask your family like I will never forget when our middle child, Graham, first went to school and the teacher emailed us how he talked too much in class, and it was so funny because we could not get him to talk at home.

He was so quiet at home.

And the teacher said, he will not shut up in class.

He's a wonderful child, but could you just talk to him about talking out of.

Turn in class?

I said, well, could you talk to him about talking intern at home?

Because we can't get him to say anything.

And now he's.

Eleven and he talks all the time.

But I remember thinking how strange it was that he could be known as the talkative kid in class.

But maybe the birth order or something at home.

Maybe we won't shut up long enough to give him a chance at home.

And you know, it's really true, because sometimes we only get to know church you.

I wonder how big is the gap.

Between your reality and your reputation, because it's never been easier to develop a virtual reputation.

You know, where I see people online and in their profile it says life coach, and they're thirteen I don't understand.

How you're going to coach me, and you've never been on the field.

It says public figure, and you got a private account with twelve followers.

I don't.

I don't understand it, but I do because we are living in a world that wants to watch this.

Reputation without repetition, and a true reputation is not built by what you occasionally do or wish that you were, or want people to see you as.

It's not something that you project or perfect.

Your real reputation comes from relationship and repetition, and relationship and repetition.

And I had to come to the point where I realized it is not what people who don't know me think about me, or what I can convince them of that brings me peace in my heart and.

Fulfills my calling.

I want to focus my life on developing a reputation that is based on repetition and relationship, that I would do the right thing over and over and over and over and over again, and when I don't, I'll apologize and I'll get back on and do it over and over and over.

Isn't that how God built his reputation in your life?

Because he helped.

You over and over and over and over again, and he gave you mercy over and over and over and over again.

And he made ways over and over and over and over again.

And he heard your cry over and over and over again.

And he forgave you for that same sin that you committed over and over and over again.

But when you needed grace, you found it over and over and over again.

And he woke you up over and over and over again.

And he lets you see another day over and over and over again.

So I will praise Him over and over and over again.

Because God has a reputation with me.

I know him as faithful.

And watch this.

I don't let anybody else build my belief about who God is.

I don't need to believe somebody else's report about God.

I have a.

Personal relationship with Him, and God's reputation with me is based on his faithfulness in my life.

I don't go off of what I heard about.

I go off what I know.

Don't ever let somebody else misrepresent God and run you away from church.

You ought to know God for yourself.

It's a it's a relational thing.

So we're losing that, and we're so quick to tear people down, and God forgive us for all the times where we've believed a report about someone that we didn't even know.

In a day where it is so easy to project a false reputation and so easy to destroy a reputation, you can destroy your own reputation with two hundred and eighty characters.

Am I right?

I don't call names from this pulpit, but you know what I'm talking about.

And yet we stand between the reality of who we are and kind of who we think we need to be.

And into that gap.

God speaks and it's the most amazing thing.

I can't get over this, and it doesn't seem like a smart strategy, but God chooses over and over again.

The faithful God entrusts his reputation.

To faithless people.

And so for forty years the Israelites will wander in the wilderness because they believed a bad report, even though they had a history with God.

Now Joshua does something interesting.

After he calls the people together and tells them prepare and consecrate yourselves for what God is going to do, and reminds them of what God has already done.

He sends back to verse one, two spies, two Spies, instead of twelve.

When Moses got ready to check out Canaan four decades ago, he sent twelve spies and ten came back with a fear report.

So it's almost as if Joshua has learned from that exploit, being one of the two spies who said, if God is with us, we can't fail, and he made up his mind this time.

I only need to, somebody shout, I only need to look at the person on either side of you and tell both of them I.

Only need to.

I don't need too many opinions in this stage of my life.

I'm out of middle school now, and I can't live by what everybody else thinks or does not anymore.

I only need too, somebody say, I only need to.

And I read in my Bible that surely goodness and mercy will follow.

Me all the days of my life.

So I got goodness and I got mercy.

I only need to say it again.

I only need to, and I can't afford to consult everybody's opinion and every cable news channel.

I got goodness and I got mercy.

I don't need Fox, I don't need CNN, I don't need Twitter, I don't need Facebook.

I don't need Instagram.

I don't need my past to consult.

I don't need to consult too many people.

You know, we start calling people and asking them for advice.

You really don't want advice anymore after you've called the third person.

You want affirmation and attention.

I have a shortcut now as a pastor.

When people say I'd like your advice on whatever they say next, I don't respond to I say what do you want, because I'll just say what you want to hear and save you the time from calling the next person and the next person until somebody will finally tell you what you want to hear.

Because a lot of us, maybe not you, maybe somebody.

You know, a lot of us live our whole life consulting opinions.

And when you get too many opinions, it really crowds out the voice of God.

And you know what's funny about people.

You got to be so careful because people will a lot of times and situations will a lot of times feel they will categorize stuff.

Look, the Bible says they went into Jericho and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab.

Why would you go into the house of a prostitute in order to discern the promise of God.

Let me tell you a little secret.

God uses who he wants to use.

I'm losing amens by the minute.

You must be from out of town.

God uses who he wants to use.

And so.

Isn't it fascinating that the God, who has a spotless reputation, when he gets ready to bring his people into the promise, uses a woman with a reputation, not a reputation like we think God can use, not a reputation of perfection.

But God uses someone with a reputation.

And furthermore, someone who the spies would consider an enemy.

Technically, Rehab was an enemy of Israel, and yet God used their.

Enemy to show them who they were.

She said, I know who.

You are, and I know that God has given you the victory.

Is it possible that your enemy knows more.

About who you are than you do?

And is that why he's been fighting you like he's been fighting you.

It's just a question, saints.

Is it possible, just a little bit possible, that the trial that you're going through is actually a testament to the power that lives within you.

The devil doesn't waste bullets if he's leaving you alone.

He knows you aren't anything worth fighting against.

God used their enemy to show them who they were God.

God used their struggle to confirm his word.

It's crazy, how I said, Now let me teach you.

It's crazy how we have set.

Up a false expectation that the proof of God's favor in our life will always be that our fights will decrease and our comfort will increase.

But when God was revealing himself in the Book of Job, the devil was going all through the earth trying to look for somebody he could tamper with.

And when the devil presented himself before the throne with the angels, because the enemy can't do anything without God's permission, I'm afraid in a lot of our churches we've given the devil a reputation that he is an equal power with God.

He's not.

He's not.

And God asked a quest question to Satan.

He said, have you considered my servant job?

Have you thought about picking on him?

Because he's my guy?

Now, whatever you have to do to get on that list where God tells the devil he can mess with you, I don't want to be that holy.

I want to find that mark a.

Slipping of men.

But God said, have at his stuff.

You can touch him, his family, you can't touch him.

And when the devil came back and said, I.

Tried it and you were right, he didn't curse you.

But if you let me hurt him, it's one thing for everything around him.

To be affected.

But if you let me hurt his body, he'll curse you.

And God said, you can do it, but you can't kill him.

And after that period of testing had been completed, after Job survived all.

Of the rounds.

Now, this means he lost not only his income, not only his business, not only his belongings, but his children.

And the only person who stayed alive with Job was his wife.

And if you read about her.

He'd probably praying God would go ahead and wipe her out too, because she wasn't a very good wife.

She said, go ahead and curse God and die.

Let's get it over with.

You're really gonna put up with this and still serve God.

But Job would not charge God with wrongdoing.

And yes, at the end of God's at the end of Job's life, he was doubly blessed.

But I don't think the point of the book of Job is that Job.

Got double for his trouble.

That's nice for a bumper sticker, but he still lost his children.

What's the point.

The point is that the devil didn't mention Job's name.

God did.

Job had a reputation with Heaven, and Heaven knew about Job.

He can be trusted with trouble.

He won't break beneath the weight of a burden.

Heaven knows about you.

You can raise those ADHD kids, those abcd fghijk.

Elemento pea kids.

God knew he could give you the whole alphabet and you wouldn't kill him.

God knew he could trust you with sorrow.

God knew he could trust you with trial and with tribulation.

He knew that about you.

And if the devil isn't messing with you, maybe he doesn't even know you're here.

Like one time in the Book of Acts, these seven sons of a Jewish priest, they saw Paul laying hands.

On people and they were like, oh, that's cool.

Huh.

Maybe we say what he says, we can do what he does, and maybe we can make money off of it.

All right, in the name of Jesus, come out.

And when they said it.

The demons for and said, I heard you say Jesus, and we know him.

I heard you say Paul, and we know him.

We hate him.

We're an assignment against him.

We send snakes to bite him.

We put Paul through shipwrecks.

We stir up people and create contentions so that stones are thrown at Paul.

We've heard of Jesus, We've heard of Paul.

But who are you?

Look at somebody next to you and say it in that falsetto voice like I said it, like prince, say who are you?

Who are you?

Who are you?

I'm concerned.

I'm concerned that a lot of times we are convinced that our trouble is an indication of the absence of God's resence, when more times than not, in the scripture you can find that trouble accompanies God's presence.

He is an ever present help in the time of trouble.

So if you're in trouble, you're in God.

Who are you?

Who are you?

The Devil's looking at some of y'all, Who are you?

I don't even have to I don't even have to mess with your life.

You're doing a good job by yourself.

Who are you?

Who are you?

I'll get paid to argue, would you no, So they.

Go to the house of Rehab the prostitute, and y'all probably would not preach about a prostitute if she were only mentioned in Joshua chapter two, because I would figure that's the Old Testament.

But a funny thing happened in the Book.

Of Matthew.

When the writer started listening the genealogy of Jesus and all of the generations that he came through.

It's like fourteen generations and then fourteen more, and then fourteen more.

And this is the stuff that we skip over sometimes when we're reading the Christmas story because it's all these names that we don't recognize, and so and so begot so, and so begot so, and so begot so and so.

And really, all I want to do is get to verse eighteen.

Then came Jesus.

But some of the stuff you skip is some of the places where God speaks.

I said, some of the stuff you skip is some of the stuff God speaks through.

And Matthew said in Matthew one, verse five, I feel like preach him Salmon the father of Boas, whose mother was Rayhab, whose mother was Rehab.

Now to get to Jesus in the genealogy, you got to go through Rehab, the prostitute.

God works through who he wants to work through, and all things work together for the good of Him that loved the Lord whose mother was Rayhab.

Stop being so stuck up.

Stop categorizing people and casting them out like you don't have issues.

You ought to be glad to see Rahab's name in there.

Hope for me too.

If Rahab made it, maybe I can by faith shout it out by faith by faith.

So then you get to Hebrews eleven, and not just once, but for the second time.

In the New Testament, Rehab gets an honorable mention in the Hall of Faith where they're inducting all of the Sunday School heroes.

All of the classic events on which redemptive history hinged are mentioned in.

Hebrews chapter eleven.

By Faith twenty nine.

The people passed through the Red Sea on dry land, but when the Egyptians tried to.

Do so, they were drowned.

Side note.

God doesn't bring you into deep waters to kill you.

He brings you into deep water to drown your enemies.

He knows they can't swim, and in deep waters that's where you deal with your doubts, and in deep waters, that's where you come face to face with your dysfunction and have to lean and rely on the grace of God.

So the Egyptians drowned by faith.

The walls of Jericho fell not because they fought so well, but because the faith that they had enabled them to do what made no sense naturally.

And by faith, the walls of Jericho fell after the army had marched around them for seven days.

And here comes Reyhab, by faith, the prostitute Rayhab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who are disobedient.

And what more shall I say?

I don't have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jefta, David, Samuel, the prophets.

You mean you don't have time to talk about David.

The greatest king that Israel ever knew, a man after God's own heart, But you had time.

To mention Rayhab.

God says, I don't look at people based on your standard of importance.

I don't look at people based on your standard of significance.

God doesn't check your followers to see how much favor he gives you.

God is looking at your faith.

And then James jumps in and for a third time, this Harlot is mentioned alongside the heroes of scripture.

Hero Harlot, Harlot hero.

And now I can't tell the difference because God calls someone that I call a Harlot a hero, and.

I know you don't like it, and.

I know it doesn't go down easy, and I know we can't eat it with vanilla wafers and put it on a flannel graph because.

The story of Rahab is r.

Rated and it doesn't teach very well.

In the kids.

But James said, in the same way till twenty five, in the same way, was not even Rayhab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction.

And keep calling her that Rahab the prostitute, keep labeling her.

It's crazy.

God didn't change her before he used her.

You know how we think God can't use me because I currently struggle with It's not like she was a prostitute and then she became a prophet.

She was still a prostitute.

This doesn't excuse bad behavior, but it helps me to see that the love of God is not the reward for change.

It is the resource by which I am changed.

That revelation of the love of God is so powerful.

And you know, I was telling you my son Graham, he talks a lot more now and he actually says some really funny stuff.

I'm praying that he will not become a stand up comic.

I'm praying that you know, he'll well, I'm not praying that he'll.

Be a preacher either.

I really don't.

I really don't care if my kids take on this profession or not like that.

I might even tell him, you know, do something else if you can, because you got to be called to do this.

But all my kids have heard so many sermons.

They come up with funny little questions about the Bible that I never thought of before, but just from a child's mind is so funny.

And Graham asked me the.

Other day, he said, I hear people say all the time when I get to Heaven, I want to see Jesus.

And he said, but have you ever thought about how long the line is going to be?

And we had just been to Disneyland, so he had that in his mind, like the you know, and he said, it's going to be a long line to see Jesus.

I wonder if you could get somebody to hold your place in line to see Jesus and then go see some of the other characters in the Bible.

So I kind of played it out, and I was thinking, you know, you probably could.

There are probably some characters in the Bible that no one will want a selfie with, and you could probably just walk right up to him, like Jonah, who wants to meet Jonah.

He's the most dysfunctional, discouraging prophet in the Bible.

He preached and God sent a revival, and he went outside and wanted to die.

So Jonah's available.

You could go see Jonah for a few minutes, a few hundred years while you wait to see Jesus, you know, eternities long, and then you could probably go see You could probably go see Bartholomew.

Apostle Paul might be unavailable, and John the disciple who Jesus loved.

He might he might have a little wait list, but you can probably see Bartholomew.

Jewish legend says that Rahab was one of the most four beautiful women.

Who ever lived.

I don't know if that's true, but maybe.

You want to see for yourself, you know, get to heaven.

There's Samson.

Walk over to the front desk.

There's Peter, got his iPad and uh, you say, hey, I'm in line to see Jesus.

I'm number fifteen million, nine hundred and seventy three, two hundred and twenty three.

While I'm waiting.

That was kind of stranger class.

Could I see ah?

I see Rahab the prostitute.

You know feeders loud, Rayab the prostitute.

Let me check sounds bad man, Keep it down.

Oh, I'm sorry.

We do have a rehab up here, But you said Rehab the prostitute.

There's nobody here by that name because up here we don't call people what they want her.

We don't call people what they did.

We don't call people what they were labeled.

Up here, she doesn't go by that name.

So you can see ray Have, but make sure you call her by her new name.

Up here, we call her Rayhaf the righteous.

There is a righteousness that comes from God by faith.

I said, there is a righteousness that it's not of worse, so.

That no one can boast.

And I don't know about Sue, but I'm grateful for the blood of Jesus that covered my pan.

I'm not what I did, and I'm not what I was, and I'm not what I think, and I'm not where I'm.

Broken, and I'm not what they said.

I got a new name, I got a new name, I got a new reputation.

I am a child of God.

I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, look at somebody, say, don't call me that.

You don't know me like that.

Don't call me according to how you memorized me in my past.

God is doing a new thing in my life.

And when condemnation comes in, you know, to remind you of all of those reasons that God can't use you.

Remember Rehab.

Remember Rehab who had nothing to offer except faith.

And God said even.

She was considered righteous.

Because that's what church is.

It's a place for you to come and leave all of the labels that you've accumulated in your life because of your behaviors.

Oh yeah, some.

Of the stuff people said about you is facts.

It's not always that they were lying.

It's just that there is a greater truth that supersedes whatever they can say about you.

And every weakness is potential strength.

But when I was writing this message, I made a critical mistake.

I was typing so fast in my phone, I kept misspelling Rehab's name, and I kept spelling it our eh Ab because I was writing fast, not because my IQ is love.

And after writing it down ten times, I noticed I keep spelling it Rehab.

And God said, you got it right.

Because what I want you to tell the people when you preach it is that I am in the business of rehabilitating.

In my title again on the screen, you did not come to a religious service today.

You came to rehab.

And the place it starts is not with what others think of you.

We spend so much time on that, and we fail to realize that really the issue is how you see you.

The greatest place my reputation needs repair is within myself, because I've let myself down so many times, and I've made promises to myself and others over.

And over again.

And I'm really going to have a better attitude this time, and I'm really good at this time, and I'm really going at this time.

And some of you have developed a reputation with yourself that does not reflect your reputation with Heaven.

God doesn't see you like that, and see you like that and the gap between your reality and your reputation with yourself could cost you the opportunity to see God use you in the future.

If if you don't deal with that, it costs the spies.

Ten of the twelve said we can't go in.

That's eighty three points sixty sixty six sixty six percent of the people that went into the land came back with the wrong report.

And I think eighty three point sixty sixty sixty sixty six percent of stuff I tell myself is probably wrong at least at least And if I don't deal with that, I can have a new reality, a new nature.

I could be chosen by God, loved by God, accepted by God, and He can even have an assignment for me.

He can even want to use my house to bring forth the promise.

If I don't see myself that way, I'll.

Be like those spies.

The reason they didn't go into the land wasn't how they saw God, with how they saw themselves.

And the reason they saw themselves as small is because they had spent four hundred and thirty years enslaved, and sometimes you.

Carry that with you.

The Bible actually says that before they could go into the land God had to roll away the reproach of Egypt.

Their past, their shackles, their former condition.

And when you carry forward with you the reproach of different things that you struggled with or currently struggle with, it will always keep you from realizing your righteousness in Christ, always always, and you.

See your life through the lens of self.

It's very small.

That's what the spies came back and said they had totally lost sight of God's reputation because they were so concerned about their own.

Numbers.

Thirteen thirty three says that they gave the men of God Moses this report.

They said, we saw the Nephilim there.

The Nephelom were giants.

It might represent anything in your life that's too powerful for you and your own strength.

It might represent your fear, your insecurity, that chronic thing keeps creeping into your life, taking you down.

Thought.

Pattern doesn't have to be a physical giant or a physical enemy.

In fact, the Bible says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood.

There's a good chance that your Nephilim has a different name.

And we saw the.

Giants, and we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes.

Why were you comparing yourself to the giants?

You were supposed to be comparing your giants to your God.

But you lost sight of that, didn't you.

And you start thinking, what's.

Wrong with me is more powerful than what's right with God.

We look like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we look the same to them.

Because when you don't know who you are, you depend on the rest of the world to tell you.

And now you're empty, and now you're projecting, and now you're trying to perfect this reputation.

But God brought you here for rehabit.

God brought you here for a reminder of who he is.

The Lord, the Lord, slow to anger, abounding in love, maintaining faithfulness to a thousand generations.

That's who he is.

He has a reputation.

He's picked up people like you and like me at our lowest point.

He's picked up people like you and me on our highest mountaintop.

He specializes in imperfection.

Would you stand to your feet, no one leaving, no one moving.

I'd like to pray for you, please, If this word has ministered to you today and there is a reproach that you have been carrying forward into your future, that needs to be rolled into your past.

I would like to pray for you today that God would remind you of his reputation.

He's never lost a battle, He's never met a need that he couldn't meet.

He never created a life he did not intend to use.

And so we find hope today in this story of Rahab, that God is rehabilitating our eyes, that we could see him as he really is.

Father.

I pray that not one of your children but brush this message off.

I pray that it would not fall on death fears, and I pray that our pride would not keep us from receiving it, because probably we could think, well, I'm not that bad, I'm not some prostitute.

We all have broken places, we all have many reasons why we feel useless and unworthy, and yet you call us righteous by faith.

Speak over your.

People today, Lord, in direct contradiction to every lie that the enemy has planted in their mind, it is not so, and it will not prevail.

Whatever has been spoken over their life by others or by themselves that does not align with your word.

We come against it now.

In the name that is above every name, the name of Jesus, the name that is able to heal, saved, deliver, and set free in the name of Jesus, the name that is above every name, the name that is above every nephilum, the name that is above every dysfunction, the name that is above all shame and sin.

And we ask you that.

In this moment of worship, we would remember who you say.

We already are chosen, not forsaken.

I am who you say I am.

You are for me, not against me.

I am who you.

Say I am, saying I am who you say I am.

Lift your hands to your father, say I am who you say I am.

Thank you for joining us.

Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry.

Is because of you that this ministry is possible.

You can click the link in the description to give now, or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.

You can share it with your friends.

You can click the share button, take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church.

Thanks again for listening.

God bless you